Having just sent my passport off for an Indian visa, there is a monetary downside to travelling thru the World's most populous country - the £50 (inc postage) it will cost for the visa. Forgot to mention this before.
I'm also very interested in the possibility of trekking in Nepal so this thread has been an interesting read. I'm getting married in October and the two of us are starting to think that we might only have one "big" holiday left before we really need to start thinking about kids, at which point finances will put that sort of thing out of reach!
One possibility we have been considering is trying to climb Kili and then doing a safari, (probably around the Ngorogoro Crater) afterwards. The challenge of climbing Kili is attractive and it would be a pretty good thing to have achieved together, but it would be fairly costly and I wonder if the crowds and the relentless slog of it might take some of the shine off the experience. Also my fiancee has already been to Tanzania/Kenya so the safari part wouldn't be a new experience for her. If we did do it I'd be interested in the Rongai route, which I have read is a bit more interesting than the "coco-cola" route.
Trekking in Nepal, maybe aiming for Kalar Patar and Everest Base Camp is another option, and neither of us have been to that part of the world (a particular rarity for her as she is very well travelled). As I'm quite a keen photographer I wonder how the relative merits of the two destinations compare from that point of view as well.
Difficult to decide, so if anyone has any particular thoughts on either I'd be happy to hear them.
I've also been up Kili and if I had to pick between Kili & Nepal I'd choose Nepal as I think the scenery is more spectacular.
I don't remember Kili being a relentless slog, though (did the Machame route). And if you book with a local firm (or through Zara's UK site) it's cheaper.
